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Mason Vs. Garon

  • pkebker
    Mathieu Garon has recently replaced Steve Mason as the Columbus Blue Jackets starting Goaltender. What does this mean for Mason's future? Is he still the franchise goaltender of the future?
  • ohiotiger33
    Yes. Sophomore slump. You have to go with the hot goalie in the NHL. It would be insane to give up on mason now. What he did last season cannot possibly be a fluke. Putting up that many shutouts was insane, and he will be back to it soon enough.

    That being said, it is nice to have a fallback, and Howson deserves uber credit for picking Garon up in the offseason.
  • pkebker
    I was thinking that maybe the rest of the league has figured out Mason, and now knows how to play with him in the goal. I agree, Garon has been an excellent pick up.
  • End of Line
    Garon, easily. During the 07-08 season in Edmonton he helped the Oilers go 10-0 on shootouts, stopping 30/32 attempts.
  • gerb131
    Gotta ride Garon while he is warm. Sucks for Mase but he needs to sit back and see some tendencies of players and learn from that. He was bad high glove last year but it seems he is bad everywhere now. He will rebound and he remains the future of the CBJ imo.
  • pkebker
    I hope he is the future because we all saw what he can do when he is hot, but right now he's not looking very good. Right now we have to play the goalie that gives us the best chance to win and that's Garon. However, I hope Mason figures it out soon, because when he plays to his potential, he has proven to be one of the best goaltenders in the NHL.
  • End of Line
    Mason played well in front of a great defensive system last year, and this year that system has folded in front of him, and he can't control rebounds. He's going through the sophmore slump, next year might be different.
  • pkebker
    Why has the defense folded so much. It just doesn't make sense, since we didn't lose any playmakers.
  • End of Line
    ^^^^^^Lazyiness most likely.
  • NNN
    pkebker wrote: Why has the defense folded so much. It just doesn't make sense, since we didn't lose any playmakers.
    I think part of it has been subconscious. The feeling with Mason last year as a team was "We've got to really stick to it to help out our rookie goalie". This year, up through about 10 games ago, the team as a whole has been playing a much more high-risk game.

    The quality of shots that both goalies were facing from about games 1-38 was extraordinarily high, particularly when compared to last year. And the other big problem was no one playing the slot and helping reduce huge rebounds to minimal offensive threats.
  • pkebker
    So most of you would argue that the real problem with this team is poor defensive play and not the goaltending?
  • End of Line
    It's both.
  • pkebker
    Mason looked better tonight...
  • End of Line
    Decided not to watch the game tonight, considering it's been nearly 3 years since the CBJ won at the Scottrade Center.
  • GeneralsIcer89
    Columbus remains a team with at best a 2nd pairing defenseman as their top D. I said this would bite them before the season started. Their defense played above their level quite a bit last year due to confidence after Mason's strong start, but it was unrealistic to expect it would be sustained. If Howson had any significant mistakes in the offseason, it was not pursuing a big, solid, 1st-pairing shutdown D. Several were available.
  • TedSheckler
    pkebker wrote: So most of you would argue that the real problem with this team is poor defensive play and not the goaltending?
    Along with the fact that they can rarely put up more than 2 goals a game.
  • pkebker
    TedSheckler wrote:
    pkebker wrote: So most of you would argue that the real problem with this team is poor defensive play and not the goaltending?
    Along with the fact that they can rarely put up more than 2 goals a game.
    So we pretty much need improvement at every position.
  • TedSheckler
    Not necessarily. I'm thinking more of a coaching philosophy (coach) change from a defensive philosophy to a more run and gun style. The first 10 games or so, we were running that sort of offense and looked great. We were what, 6-2?
  • pkebker
    So why did they stop running that style after such a great start?
  • TedSheckler
    Because it's not Hitchcock hockey.
  • End of Line
    ^^^^^^True. This team does need a big #1 pairing defenseman. Here are some upcoming UFA's at the end of the season:

    Nick Boynton (ANH)
    Pavel Kubina (ATL)
    Derek Morris (BOS)
    Andrew Ference (BOS)
    Dennis Seidenberg (FLR)
    Dan Hamhuis (NSH)
    Anton Volchenkov (OTT)
    Garnet Exelby (TOR)
  • pkebker
    Does CBJ have much money to spend in FA this offseason?
  • End of Line
    go to capgeek.com and look.
  • TedSheckler
    That's kind of hard to understand. I use http://nhlnumbers.com/overview.php?team=CLB&season=0910

    They have a lot of cap room, but they have an internal cap.
  • End of Line
    ^^^^^^True. Since they're not in a big "market" they can't afford to spend all the way to the cap. Teams like Pittsburgh, Calgary, Chicago, Detroit, etc. can because of their market.